A BOY of nine and his parents were among the seven holiday-makers killed in an horrific minibus crash, police said today.

A BOY of nine and his parents were among the seven holiday-makers killed in an horrific minibus crash, police said today.

A second son, aged 15, suffered less serious injuries but was orphaned in the crash on the M56 in Greater Manchester, a police spokeswoman said.

The family, from Ledbury in Herefordshire, had been in the mini-bus on their way to Manchester airport for a summer holiday flight yesterday morning.

Today, police confirmed that a 47-year-old woman, a man of 46 and their son, nine, were killed in the crash.

A 50-year-old woman from Belfast, a man aged 47 from Dunfermline - today named as Duncan Boniface - and a woman of 43 from Sunderland also died.

The driver of the minibus, a 42-year-old man from Stretford, was also killed.

The wife of Mr Boniface, Gillian, 41, is in a serious condition in Wythenshawe hospital after emergency surgery. The couple's 14-year-old daughter Ami is also seriously ill at Royal Manchester children's hospital.

They are understood to have been heading for a family holiday in Mexico.

Of the others involved in the crash, a 55-year-old man from Belfast, the partner of one of the women who died, suffered minor injuries.

A man, 39, from Tyne and Wear was treated in hospital for minor injuries and released from hospital yesterday. His partner, from Sunderland, was killed.

Three men, aged 31, 32, and 35 from Leeds, all suffered minor injuries and were released after hospital treatment.

Police were today continuing their investigation into the crash, which happened as the minibus, a hotel courtesy taxi, made a 10-minute journey to the airport.

It is thought it collided with a Toyota Carina as it tried to pull back into the left-hand lane of the outbound carriageway at 5.40am yesterday.

It veered into the central reservation and hit a lamppost, which sliced off its roof and part of one side.

Suitcases, once bound for holidays in Mexico and USA, were strewn across all four lanes of the carriageway.

Police patrolman PC Paul Fazackerley, 35, a father-of-two from Wigan, was just yards from the scene at the time of the crash.

He was on a monitoring platform when he heard the accident.

He said today: "I moved my car round to behind the minibus to warn traffic. It was only then that I realised the severity of the accident.

"I had to remain professional and get on with the job and to try and help as many people as I could.

"A nurse who was in one of the cars involved in the accident came to help, and I can't thank him enough, he really made a difference."